


Let Her Grow

by only_freakin_donuts



Series: Princess Diaries [3]
Category: Timeless (TV 2016)
Genre: Amy's going to college, F/M, I'm such a freakin sap, Lucy's emotional, Why?, featuring lots of song lyrics, i'm emotional
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-31
Updated: 2018-12-31
Packaged: 2019-09-30 22:36:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,758
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17232485
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/only_freakin_donuts/pseuds/only_freakin_donuts
Summary: "That’s what eighteen year old girls do, they go away to college.”“Since when are our girls eighteen?”





	Let Her Grow

**Author's Note:**

> The twins I'm writing with in this fic (and in the whole Princess Diaries series) are my own twins, Amy and AJ. (Sorry, love canon little Flynn, but I don't have it in me to abandon AJ now, I quite like her.) And they have a son named Archer as well here. You'll be seeing lots more of these kiddos in the Princess Diaries series.
> 
> A playlist of all the music mentioned in this fic, and some that were not mentioned but were definitely a part of the Logan girls roadtrip, can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL5gwxQ3FCliO_u51LrgilxIZwQoBWpbSC

Lucy would have to get used to only having one of her girls around. Except, it wouldn’t be this one.

Amy stands at the door, looking at the open trunk of the station wagon with crossed arms. She’s got puffy eyes, there were tears last night… on both their parts. Somewhere in the middle of the night, her twin sister had heard them both crying like babies and came and joined in. Wyatt woke up from his spot on the couch in the morning to find all his girls curled up in him and his wife’s bed, blankets and crumpled tissues and limbs sprawled everywhere. Damn, he loved them. 

The blonde twin appears again, standing behind her sister on the front porch and wrapping her arms around her waist. AJ wishes so badly she could come today, help move her sister into her new home, her first home away from her– but, part of her took this shift at work on purpose. She didn’t wanna christen Amy’s new dorm room with more soppy “my sister’s leaving me” tears, no one needed those. Especially with their dad and Archer gone to move Archer into his student housing in San Francisco today, her mom and sister needed a “Mommy and Amy” day. 

With the last bags stored away, Lucy shuts the trunk and joins her girls on the porch with a sad smile. “We should get going, Ames.”  
Amy nods, but she doesn’t move. AJ turns to face her now, hands on her sister’s slim shoulders. “You are never too far to come home,” she reminds her. “And you are going to take Bakersfield History by storm, they aren’t even gonna know what hit them.” They had a long, hard motivational speech last night, they don’t need to rehash that, but Amy needed the reminder. She smiles, just a little. AJ always drew a smile out of her. She hugs her one more time. “I’ll call you tonight. Love you.”  
“Love you,” Amy responds.  
If Lucy sheds a tear or two, neither of them see. They definitely didn’t see her take the picture she took and sent to Wyatt (with a few crying emojis). 

Amy’s still so quiet as they pull out of the street, as they get out of town. It was going to be a long drive this way. But Lucy’s her mom, she’s known this kid and all her oddities for eighteen and a half years now, she knew how to get her to smile. She had a playlist on her phone meant for car rides like this one. Taylor Swift could always put a smile on her daughter’s face.

“Come on, shake it off,” Lucy says with a smile, after that song leads way to another. “Today’s supposed to be a good day.”  
Amy shakes her head. She isn’t ready to talk yet. “Okay,” Lucy nods. “Less of me talking and more of TSwizzle it is, then.”  
Well, now she’s smiling, even if she doesn’t want to be. Lucy turns up the music and starts bobbing along, knowing all the words and singing along. And by the chorus, Amy can’t help but join in… 

_“Can’t you SEE THAT I’M THE ONE WHO UNDERSTANDS YOU, been here ALL ALONG so why can’t you SeEeEeE, you belong with MeEeEeE–”_

Taylor Swift eventually gave way to P!nk ( _“So WHAT ABOUT US?! What about all the times YOU SAID YOU HAD THE ANSWERS?!”_ ), then Maroon 5, ( _“and she WILLLLLLLL be LOVEDDDDD, and she WILLLLLLL be LoOoOoOoOoOved…”_ ), they threw it back to before either of their times with The Eurythmics ( _“sweet dreams are made of these, who am I to disagree… I’ve travelled the world and the seven seas... everybody’s looking for something...”_ ) and agreed they would _“walk 500 miles”_ , and _“walk 500 more, just to be the man who walked 1000 miles to fall down at your door.” “Country roOoOoOoOads”_ took them _“hOoOoOoOme”_ , and they ventured _“in the jungle, the mighty jungle”_ where _“the lion sleeps tonight…”._ They weren’t too far from Bakersfield when they started on Kelly Clarkson. 

_“Grew up in a small town, and when the rain would fall down, I would stare out my wiiiiindow…”_

As the chorus hit, Lucy let Amy take it away, the way she used to during high school choir solos. She just sat back and smiled. It would appear Amy hadn’t even noticed, engrossed in the song. Lucy was gonna miss hearing that voice everyday, she hoped her daughter’s roommates enjoyed shower tunes. She was gonna miss having her mini-me around for so many reasons more than that, too.

 _“I’ll spread my wings and I’ll learn my wings and I’ll learn how to fly, though it’s not easy to tell you goodbyeeee, I gotta, make a wish, take a chance, make a change, and breeeeakaaaaawayyy…”_

“I’m gonna miss you singing in my passenger seat,” Lucy says out loud, once the song’s over. She hadn’t even really meant to. But it had been three hours and they hadn’t actually spoken a word because they both didn’t want to, but they should. She laughs as a stray tear finds itself on her cheek, wiping it quickly. “I’m gonna miss _you_.”  
Amy laughs too, trying not to cry herself. “I’m gonna miss you too.”  
“You know that I’m so proud of you, right? I know this is a big deal, I know it’s hard, and I know that you didn’t have to do it, and you are anyways cause that’s what’s best, even though it’s tough.”  
Now Amy just might cry. She nods. “I think I learned how to do that from you,” she says. 

They pull into the parking outside the residence building having said few more words than that. Amy’s nervous again, looking up at the big, towering building she’d be calling home until next spring at least, if not the next four years. They’d been here before when they toured the school, but back then it hadn’t registered she’d actually be living here. Like, actually _living_ here.

“Hey,” Lucy says, grabbing her attention before they go inside. “Like AJ said, you’re never too far to come home. I will come get you if you need me to, or I will come down and be with you, no matter what. She’d do it for you too, so would Dad, and Archer. We’ll all come if you want us to.”  
Amy nods, still looking up at the big building and processing in her brain how far from home she is. “I can do it alone,” she says.  
“But you don’t have to do it alone,” Lucy reinforces. “You aren’t alone. We’re just a phone call away. And you’re going to make friends here so quickly anyways, you might even forget all about us.”  
Amy smiles. “I couldn’t do that,” she says, her eyes drifting from the building downwards now.  
“Should we go see if they’re here already?” Lucy asks, reaching a hand out for her daughter’s.  
Amy nods, squeezing it before she takes her backpack and gets out of the car. Her and Lucy each take a suitcase from the trunk for their first trip, and with their arms around each other, they finally make it into the building. It doesn’t feel as big and towering when they’re inside. Once they’re in front of the door that says “Room 306, Amelia Logan, history major and Kaylie Donofree, communications major” on it. 

_Make a wish, take a chance, make a change, and breakaway._

-

“Hey, did everything go okay with getting Amy settled?” Wyatt asks, answering the phone as he’s driving back home, taking the 280 out of San Francisco. “Archer’s all settled, we got him moved in and then went for dinner. I’m on my way back now.”  
“Yeah, it went fine,” Lucy nods. The light from her laptop, watching a sitcom on Netflix, illuminated the dark room, Amy slept with her head on her mom’s lap despite the light. “I’m staying the night here.”  
“Were there more tears?” Wyatt asks. He was only teasing a little bit.  
“More mine than hers,” Lucy answers, willing herself not to cry again now that they’re talking about it, her fingers stroking Amy’s hair. “How am I supposed to leave her here tomorrow, Wyatt?”  
Wyatt takes a deep breath, hoping his wife will take one with him. He knew this was gonna be hard on everyone, he just didn’t get the magnitude until the past 24 hours. Amy was Lucy’s baby– she’d always needed the most from her mother, the most support, the most attention, the most cuddles and kisses and pep talks and “Mom, I need your help!”s. Not to mention how freakily similar they were in personality. “What have you been telling her, that she’s only a phone call away?”  
“That isn’t actually the same as being here, we all know that,” Lucy mumbles.  
“You have to let her grow, Luce,” Wyatt reminds her. “I’m gonna miss her too, part of me hates that she’s leaving, but that’s what eighteen year old girls do, they go away to college.”  
“Our other one isn’t,” Lucy reminds him.  
“And you’ve been giving her grief about it for the past six months,” Wyatt argues back. “I’m gonna miss her too,” he repeats.

“Since when are our girls eighteen?” Lucy muses aloud, still stroking her daughter’s hair. She’s done this since her girls were babies, and they’d lay just like this, one on each side, and fall asleep while watching _Mulan_ or Tangled. “I remember when they were babies.”  
“Yeah, me too,” Wyatt answers. “It’s crazy,” he laughs after a minute. “We have three college aged kids. Since when?”  
Lucy giggles lightly, in an aching sort of way. “I miss our babies, but I _love_ our young adults. I love who they’re becoming.”  
Wyatt nods, even though she can’t see. “I’m proud of them. I’m proud of us too, we didn’t screw any of them up. We’ve raised really good kids.”  
“We did,” Lucy agrees. “I’m gonna go, babe. I’m gonna get Amy to bed and get some sleep myself. Give AJ a kiss for me when you get home. Drive safe.”  
“And give Amy one for me,” Wyatt says. “Love you.” 

Lucy carefully leans down and pecks Amy’s cheek, once for her dad, and once for her. Leaving her here tomorrow was gonna suck. And _though it’s not easy to tell her goodbye_ , maybe she was the one who had to _make a wish, take a change, make a change, and breakaway_ here. 

_Gotta let her grow._

**Author's Note:**

> Go Cal State Bakersfield Roadrunners!
> 
> I have a list of 19ish headcanons about the Logan girls on my tumblr (@only-freakin-sunflowers). If there's something you'd like to read, come let me know!


End file.
